Fanfic Author Appreciation Week: You post a fave author for each day, March 6 through the 13. Tell why you picked them, give some links to their fic, say why you love them, their work, why they need more appreciation, and just wax poetic about your favorite authors for the entire week.

I only just found this meme, so forgive me for starting late. ;~)

When I first got online, late November 1999, one of the first things I got hubby to type in as a test was 'Han and Leia', and was completely and utterly gobsmacked at the results. Fanfiction. Site after site.

I had been writing and drawing my own fanfic for 20yrs (thinking I was 'excentric') with no idea that there were hundreds of others out there just as obsessed and crazy. And I certianly had no idea it had a name - fanfiction! Joyous beyond imagining, I started reading... and haven't stopped. ;~P

Ok, first up -

Fortunately, the very first site I went into was the Han and Leia Shrine (which, sadly, appears to have gone) and, even more fortunately, the first fic I read was Difficult Sometimes by Cindy Olsen . Behind the scenes Han and Leia! On the way to Bespin! All their thoughts, angst and UST; I could not believe how wonderful this story was. It was everything I had been craving from Star Wars but didn't even know it. I gobbled it down, searched hungrily for more, and very quickly realised that not all the authors writing fanfiction were as brilliant as Cindy.

To this day I still regard her as the best Han/Leia writer out there. She has an ease of style and captures the characters so well that you can't help but hear Harrison and Carrie in your head as they speak. Dare I say that her Han and Leia are more canon than canon?

I was even more fortunate to discover that Cindy was (relatively) local to me! And have had the pleasure of visiting her twice and having her come down to visit me. And we had the BESTEST time ever at the Smithsonian SW exhibition when it came to Sydney!! :~D Drooled all over Han's costume (figuratively - sadly it was behind glass), Han in Carbonite and the Millennium Falcon together; there is nothing better than going to something like that with a like minded soul! (aka crazy, obsessed fangirl buddy. Though I will admit that we had more than a few laughs at the obnoxiously loud fanboys and girls who were there, smug in the knowledge that, while we might be just as geeky, we were at least dignified! Hahahhahaa! It wasn't us setting off the alarm every 10mins - no, that was the crazy fanboys jumping into the Coruscant Speeder - that Anakin and ObiWan use in Ep2 - so that their mates could take their photo before they were caught! :~D )

Much hugs and love matey! ♥♥♥ Thanks for sharing your talent with us and giving us SO much Han and Leia goodness!

I absolutely LOVE that drawing of yours, Leela. I've seen it bunches of times, but it never fails to make my jaw drop. I feel like I could actually reach out and touch Han (I mean that in the most innoent way, I swear!). Plus the picture within a picture is just too cool. Amazing.

Anyways, I know the whole point of this is *author* appreciation so I hope you forgive that little digression of mine. That said: I totally agree with everything you said about Cindy Olsen. She was also one of my first H/L fanfic experiences (her and Sue Zahn). And it's almost too bad, because she spoiled me. I went onto other fics expecting ALL of them to be as good, but nope! She was actually a rare gem rather than the norm. But great stuff. I totally dug her fic. She got into these characters brains--and convincingly--and that's no small thing. Very cool.

Cindy's fics were among my first fanfic experiences too, and they pretty much spoiled me for everything else. ;-) "Difficult Sometimes" remains one of the sexiest fics I've ever read, even though there's no actual sex in it.